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Turian Hierarchy Space Force
The Turian Hierarchy Space Force is the space navy branch of the Turian military, it is also one of the largest naval power in Citadel Space aside from the Terran Federation and the Systems Alliance. The Hierarchy Navy is tasked with supporting the Turian Army in interstellar campaigns and provides support for planetary landing operations as well as peacekeeping in Citadel space (although this role is predicted to be supplemented by the Terran Federation Space Fleet in the near future) and keeping homeland security in check between Turian colonies. Doctrines The navy of the Turian Hierarchy is extremely formidable. Despite the leaps made by the Terran Federation in recent years the Hierarchy is still responsible for the majority portion of the Citadel Fleet and thanks to years of involvement in the galactic community before the first contact with the Federation. Due to the stipulations of the Treaty of Farixen, they have a sizeable fleet of dreadnoughts at their disposal. Their ship construction was further accelerated and simplified following the aftermath of the Petolemaic War as the Hierarchy was able to reverse engineered many valuable technologies from leftover vessels and equipment that they have captured from the Skinnie docks as token prizes in their occupied buffer zone. The Turian Fleet is divided into 32 Fleets as well as two cruiser-carriers. The navy serves as a galactic peacekeeping force, and is also the primary military arm of the Council, contributing the single largest portion of the Citadel Fleet. Turian ship design traditionally centred on "jack of all trades" trait with a balance of armor and large calibre long range cannons and moderate speed. Their capital ships generally mounted fewer main cannons than their Federation and Alliance counterparts, which focused on smaller caliber laser and higher rate of fire. After the invention of space borne carriers become a major sparks of "The Citadel Carrier Arms Race", the Turians did carry fighters aboard its ships but the focus on "All Big Guns" battleships meant the Hierarchy was slow to realize the benefits of dedicated fighter carriers. The Systems Alliance first fielded carriers in 2662 GS, following initial Terran Federation designs like the Ryuho, but the Turian Hierarchy continued to prioritize construction of dreadnoughts and cruisers. It was not until 2665 GS, after the design of the Alliance Ranger ''class Fleet Carrier, that the Hierarchy belatedly acknowledged the usefulness of carriers and resolved to build its own Carrier designs. Early Turian Fleet Carriers are converted from incomplete Dreadnought hulls (that were limited by Farixen Treaty) which have their spinal guns removed to accommodate more cargo space for fighters and support craft as well as maintenance facilities with proper flight decks in the rear. Unlike Alliance and Federation Carrier designs, these ships are fitted with forward mounted missile launchers capable of using Anti-ship missiles to retain their offensive power and capable of matching with enemy capital ships. Fleets The Turian Navy is divided into 32 Fleets, prior to the Federation integration, the Turian Fleet has the highest number of Dreadnoughts, with 39 standard Dreadnoughts and 5 Super Dreadnoughts in service. This number however, dramatically increased during the post-Petolemaic War period to 48 standard Dreadnoughts and 12 Super Dreadnoughts after the Hierarchy implemented more simplified and efficient production methods. 7th Fleet The 7th Fleet was assigned under Admiral Albiraka's command, acting as an expeditionary force, he gathered together what free ships were available to relieve Shanxi during its siege, and was henceforth fully committed to the Petolemaic Conflict, this fleet gained respect from the Federation Navy for their actions during the Petolemaic Wars. Their notable achievements at breaking and overrunning Petolemaic Fleets with their cruisers during the Battle of Cassandra and Siege of Tophet demonstrated tactical capability and the military power of the Turian Navy against a technologically different enemy. 6th Fleet The Turian Sixth Fleet is stationed around the Citadel, in the Serpent Nebula at Command station Oriroa, primarily organized for peacekeeping duties throughout Citadel space. Turian 79th Flotilla The turian 79th Flotilla distinguished itself during the Krogan Rebellions when they clashed with krogan warships above Digeris. The 79th sacrificed themselves in great numbers to bring down krogan vessels attacking the colony. Centuries later, the flotilla continues to rely on speed and stealth to harass the enemy. They run interference, divert fire, and make bombing runs on enemy ground units until antiair defenses manage to target them. Turian Marine Corps Like their Federation counterparts, the Hierarchy Marine Corps is the naval infantry detachment of the Fleet, dedicated to defend Hierarchy ships and installations. Originating from the ancient days of Turian Unification Wars over two thousand years ago. The Turian Marine Corps are known for their discipline and hardy experience on the fields, its experienced troops also consist of a portion of Turian veterans who have finished their Service with the Terran Federation Foreign Legion. As of 2665 GS, the Turian Marine Corps have participated in many simulated wargames and running joint training exercises with other Infantry branches with other Citadel Species, such as the Asari Republican Guard, Salarian STG, and most recently, the Terran Federation Mobile Infantry and the System Alliance Marine Corps. Notable Turian Vessels Turian ships are generally fairly larger than their Federation counterparts though roughly equal in combat capability due to the incorporation of additional features that were absent from Federation starships. Turian cruisers are often used to suppress local rebellions and therefore capable of atmospheric operations in order to enable them to directly land on planets to unload ground troops. Living quarters echo the sharp stratification of the Hierarchy society. Senior officers tend to have well decorated furnished quarters, while enlisted personnel had much more basic quarters. The designation '''THS', or Turian Hierarchy Vessel, denotes any vessel under the command of the Turian Hierarchy. Commanding one of the strongest Naval Power in Citadel space, the Turian Navy is one of the most powerful and influential forces in the galaxy. Despite the Terran Federation integration to the Citadel community, the Turian military has managed to retain this title in some degree. Unlike other naval powers, the Hierarchy Navy has no official system of naming vessels; normally vessels are named by their Captains prior to their commissioning. The Turian Fleet had previously possessed the largest fleet in C-Space until the joining of the Quarian Migrant Fleet with the Terran Federation. From the early days of their interstellar age, to the Unification War era and then the subsequent Krogan Rebellion Era, the Turian Fleet quickly dominated the Citadel sphere as a prominent naval power. Due to their significance in Citadel history, and as one of C-Space’s oldest Navies, they were instrumental in bringing many changes to Citadel military doctrine, organization, and defenses. As the principal combat force of the Hierarchy, they are tasked with defending and securing borders in Turian space as well as providing peacekeeping support to the Citadel. Despite being constantly outsized by their Terran counterparts, the well-funded and influential Turian Navy still remains one of the most powerful military forces in C-Space. Its engineers and builders are often the best in Citadel space, with innovative designs such as the Condor class Light Cruisers, one of the most well balanced armored cruisers of the Petolemaic War era. While the Turian navy did not pay much attention in Naval Aviation, its focus on big gun dreadnought battleships, especially ships like the Exactor class and Ghakaraga class super dreadnoughts, regarded by many as the most successful designs even in the Post-Shanxi Treaty era. Dreadnought For a century, the Turian Navy possessed the most powerful dreadnought fleet until the Terran Federation brought the nimble, small, and powerful John A Warden class battlecruiser into play. The John A Warden tops the firepower of the older Turian Dreadnoughts and is significantly smaller at barely half the length, so the turians had to follow suit. The two most powerful Turian Super-Dreadnought designs, the Kilware-class and the recently built Ghakaraga-class have been heavily refitted with experimental broadside mid density lasers and Magnetic Drives as stop-gap measures to compete with the most modern Federation warship designs. The Turian currently had a total number of ~40,000 vessels including 50 Dreadnoughts in service, although this number is increasing and is likely to be able to catch up with Federation ship production capacity in a decade thanks to the arrival of the surprisingly large Terran fleet and the expansion of territory throughout the galaxy thanks to the gravity drive. Back in the Unification War, Turian battleships development started with the slower traditional Dreadnought design, with slow cruising speed and well a protected hull, this however was shifted to more mobile fast battleship designs akin to Terran battlecruisers in doctrine after witnessing the brutal levels of firepower and survivability Krogan ships could attain, as a Turian could not survive the levels of trauma a Krogan can in a ship, they decided to edge out in the field of mobility instead, to reduce the already dismal accuracy of Krogan gunnery by lowering their range even further. The older Turian Dreadnoughts were very resilient against small caliber projectiles, however, they are also very vulnerable against directed-energy-weapons and harassing fire like GARDIANs. Excelling in long to medium range combat to extra long range, Turian Dreadnoughts are capable of destroying small enemy ships in a single devastating strike with their main spinal cannons before such targets even can come close to fire at them. Unfortunately, their physical armor schemes are still considered to be under average compared to most other C-Space navies, not to mention Fed-Space armor levels. Despite the new changes after the Third Bug War, in addition, their secondaries and AA defenses are very vulnerable to being knocked out of action by pinpoint enemy fire, due to the insufficient armor casings for their batteries and GARDIAN system. Because of their vulnerable armored citadel designs, these ships are also ill-suited for mid-range brawls. Instead, their accurate cannon fire, and maneuverability, are what dictate their doctrine, as long range fire support ships with sufficiently armored protection and survivability more than a close quarter brawler. This does not mean there are exceptions but like all species each individual navy makes use of a large variety of specialist ships. The even higher mobility of later Turian fast battleship designs also meant a logical progression of this LRFS (Long Range Fire Support), tactic rather than the mid-range and even knife fight brawls of Federation “Backbreaker” doctrine, as the slower fire rate, cumbersome size of the main batteries, and lack of extensive broadside batteries, make these vessels ill-suited as brawling juggernauts. Distance and accuracy are what dictate how a Turian Dreadnought should fight, which is a stark contrast to their Terran brawling counterparts. For trans relay assaults, they make use of specially designed dreadnought classed ships. Cruiser Cruisers are the backbone of modern navies due to their balance of endurance, firepower, and protection at lower costs per ton than other types of ships. The turians expanded the “jack of all trades” nature of the cruiser by adding more cargo space and forward firepower at the expense of some armor, decreased broadsides, and inferior point defense systems. This cargo space is used to carry a larger contingent of troops and their accompanying equipment, or huge stores of supplies. This allows ship captains to change the ship configuration to fit different missions. A cruiser may carry a company full of troops plus shuttles/gunships on a pirate suppression operation while a cruiser geared for fleet action may carry a full wing (8-12) of strike fighters. Turian Cruisers tend to have fewer guns with a slower reload rate of a second more, this combined with larger payload and excellent maneuverability makes them well suited for both “hit and run” tactics and line cruiser combat. In general, they have inferior armor, slower firing main and secondary batteries compared to their Terran counterparts. However, Turian cruisers generally have better torpedoes and missiles, and are much, much faster, eschewing armor for speed. With post-Shanxi Treaty designs incorporate more innovative features, making these new generation cruisers much more accurate and with even more powerful guns in spite of their smaller sizes, however, they are still largely oriented toward hit-and-run tactics and peacekeeping, making these ships excel better in hunting merchant raiders rather than extended gunfights against other more heavily armored cruisers and battleships. Because of their larger hangar capacity and better ordnance payloads compared to other designs, Turian cruiser have worse armored citadel layouts and weaker AA defense, only sufficient for self-defense rather than providing close defense escort to the fleet. To compensate for this, they have small profiles, are incredibly fast, and maintain good agility, helping them dictate battles to their will. A cruiser wolf-pack can bring down a Dreadnought effortlessly with hails of torpedoes and missiles in combination with their high-velocity (albeit slow firing) shells. Frigate Turian Frigates rely on the use of disruptor torpedoes and missiles, as such they have somewhat small profiles, with large ordnance capacity as a trade-off for their armor and physical protection in general. This makes their frigates more like traditional “torpedo boats”. Their ability to fire a large number of torpedoes and missiles make them excellent “annoy and harrass” units to overload enemy defenses and shields for larger friendly ships and strike craft to exploit. In planetary assaults, they also use similar tactics, with focus on the enemy weak points such as defense network and communications, flying close to the surface to provide up close and personal assault fire. Dueto this focus on harassing fire tactics, Turian Frigates often operate in “wolf-packs”, typically consisting of two or more ships together for patrols, but in combat numbering up to ten or even twenty frigates. The primary targets of Turian Frigates are slower, more cumbersome vessels, particularly Terran built designs. Their lack of firepower in comparison to Federation ships make them heavily reliant on missiles and long-range torpedoes to draw out enemy ships, especially as they’re out ranged by laser weaponry. This coupled with lack of endurance and lighter armor mean they are more of a diversionary or raiding unit than direct combatants, as for the task of front-line firefights, cruisers are much more adapted to such assignments for their greater versatility in combat. Addendum: The Turian Fleet, as in concordance with several treaties in the Citadel Council, a primary Peacekeeping fleet, meaning the exceptionally numerous Turian frigate is not explicitly designed for near peer combat. Carriers While late to naval aviation developments, the Turian Fleet never blinked when it came to fighter and bomber development, and even managed to avoid several mistakes that both the Petolemaics and the Terrans had made in early development problems regarding the actual construction of the ships. After the signing of the Shanxi Naval Treaty, the Turians considered converting the Undaunted Spirit and the Resolute Will (originally laid down as Ghakaraga class Dreadnought battleships) to comply with the new Naval Treaty, these ships would eventually set the future standard patterns of Turian carrier designs. From 2669 to 2672, these carriers would receive extensive modifications to expand their hangar capacity, improve their abysmal craft recovery systems, and improve their already considerable mobility. Turian carriers are generally smaller, with good mobility and maneuverability, allowing them to quickly reposition themselves and escape enemy attacks into FTL, if for some reason they were to come under attack in the first place! These carriers however, carry a much smaller number of support craft like AWACs, tug-boats, and pilot recovery shuttles, due to the focus on more direct combatants, while allowing their smaller cruiser and relatively tiny support carriers maintain the nitty gritty support vessels, but the vessel did not eschew having quick-firing spinal cannons still mounted on their hulls, typically to man the battle line as support fire like other dreadnought sized vessels in their fleet pool. As the Hierarchy still firmly believe in the lines of battle doctrine, the majority of Turian carriers are mainly dedicated to supporting the fleet with their small craft, having true dreadnoughts entirely remove their hangars in favor of more space for other necessary addons, rather than become a true major element on the Fleet battles like their Federation counterparts. Because they could deploy their fighters faster, these carriers are well-suited for defensive roles in the Fleet, providing close support to those ships under fire. Due to this emphasis on a defensive role, Turian fighters generally lack the operational endurance and firepower of their Terran counterparts, these factors make them tend to fare poorly in one-on-one dogfights against other fighters, or god forbid, interceptors. Small military vessels Fighters The Turians currently used two main fighters in their fleet,the Aquia Fleet interceptor and the larger Attalia space bomber The Aquia fighter was an older pattern of strike fighter chosen in the beginning of 800 GS to be the standard Hierarchy space combat fighter during Krogan Rebellions, and afterwards went into large scale mass production at numerous facilities. The Attalia starfighter was a recent fighter designed as a fighter bomber analogous to the Terran Federation's Thunderbolt strike fighters designed to perform attack roles in fleet combat and planetary assault. Fast and highly mobile, these bombers are armed with powerful GARDIAN lasers that could cut through the armour of enemy warships at close range alongside a number of heavy ordnances including missiles and warp bombs. Shuttles Shuttles facilitate personnel transfer between large ships without the need to dock, or between a starship and the ground. Corvettes Corvettes are small, ten-man craft used to perform combat and survey missions. See also * Terran Federation Space Fleet * Asari Void Armada * Salarian Defense Fleet * Systems Alliance Starfleet * Treaty of Farixen * Starship TechnologyCategory:Terran Federation:Contact Category:Background Category:Organizations Category:Turians